Nonsensical comments and trolling will result in something you may not expect.
Before readers of this post judge the union president in his actions lets remember that student unions are totally unrepresentative. Fewer than 2% of students usually vote in student elections as they find student unions totally pointless. So how can they claim to represent all students?
As the uq union is a voluntary association thanks to VSU, somehow all students are automatically made members. How is this voluntary? How does a student opt out? Are students even aware of this? That they are members of a "pro-choice" organisation?
From the constitution
"All students are full members of the Union."
In this case the Newman Society put the union president in a very difficult position and he was found lacking.
It seems that the presidents hands are tied by his lack of a backbone on this issue. He appears to be a member of the Liberal party and Liberal Students Federation, but may as well join the left, as they couldn't have done a quicker or more speedy job in condemning Newman.
It seems that the entire Union exercise it to pander to minority groups. Why else would they have "Queer areas" and "Women's areas"? (I'll spare you the links to the website). Where is the Men's room?
However, what they (Newman) really wanted to do was provide some information on a retreat for healing after abortion, which can be found here;
Rachel's Vineyard - Retreat for Healing after Abortion
Inadvertently Newman seem to have shown how undemocratic Student Unions are and how quick the left are to react to the image of an unborn baby. Why is this innocent image creating such a reaction in such people?
Now I see the President wants to Run a pro-life referendum "UQ PRESIDENT CALLS FOR PRO-LIFE REFERENDUM "(www.ybenedict.org). How will the left take that?
One should also note the other referendum on the union's books that the UQ "Union oppose the mining and export of uranium." Is the School of Engineering aware of this? What a joke.
One has to remember for Catholics abortion is a matter of Life and Death. We count many maters in our ranks. For some this issue is simply about loosing a job. I know what is more important to me. So take a stand.
Nothing better illustrates the left's idea of free speech: Speech they agree with. Everyone else shut up.
Before readers of this article judge the union president in his actions, you may not know that the union president
’s hands are tied by the current rules of the union.
As the uq union is a voluntary association, all materials produced by student clubs affiliated to the union need to be approved by the union president. If the union president approves material that is against union policy as previously determined by referendum then the president can be summarily dismissed from office.
In this case the Newman Society put the union president in a very difficult position. They didn
’t seek the approval of the president for their materials before they distributed it. Then when the president told them that the material could not go out with the official sanction of the union because it contravened settled policy, they cried foul.
It seems that this entire exercise was a cynical publicity stunt on behalf of the Newman Society to gain publicity by flagrating violating rules for union-affiliated clubs - which they were clearly aware of. The Newman Society know full well that they could have distributed materials on campus as “UQ Catholics” or whatever.
However, what they really wanted to do was cause trouble for the conservative union exec and get some publicity out of the whole exercise. If the Newman Society REALLY felt passionate about this issue, they would assemble the 1500 signatures required to hold a new referendum instead of trying to manipulate the union president into breaking the very rules that he has to keep!
As an affiliated club of long standing, this club knew FULL WELL that all club material must be approved by the Union President. This is a legal requirement as the Union is an unincorporated association and as such, the President is held to be PERSONALLY liable for all material produced by the union and its affiliates - ie. clubs and socs.
Every O Week the Newman Society gets all its materials approved by the union president. However, with regard to this occasion, this club specifically chose to NOT seek approval. Remember the Gospel of Matthew - “By their works, you shall know them.”
The clubs and socs committee of the union determined that this club failed to seek the approval of the president before you distributed your materials. This rule applies to all club and societies - whether Christian, Muslim, atheist or socialist. Any claimed ignorance on this matter is disingenuous as the members continued to distribute this material AFTER they were asked to seek the president’s approval.
The fascistic tantie-pullers at QUT student union have a history of opposing free speech and closing down democratic attempts at open expression. One of their more immature "queer" activists got a rabble of brownshirt pro-choicers to ambush a pro-life meeting in February -
"A RIGHT to Life protest in Brisbane almost turned nasty today when a group of pro-choice demonstrators ambushed the event and stole the limelight.
"Police were called to diffuse the tense stand-off after about 50 pro-choice campaigners stormed the stage as the church-backed Respect for Women rally was about to begin in Queen's Park at 2pm (AEST) today.
Noisily chanting slogans, the pro-choicers only backed down after a group of up to 20 police asked them to step off the stage."
http://www.theaustralian.news.co...5-
12377,00.html
Charming little bratz-totalitarians, aren't they. Imagine the shrill objection if anyone interrupted them in full whine.
"It seems that the entire Union exercise it to pander to minority groups. Why else would they have "Queer areas" and "Women's areas"? (I'll spare you the links to the website). Where is the Men's room?"
It's been nearly two decades since I left university, but nothing's changed.
NOT ONE THING.
Don't worry - anyone who's been there (ever, it seems) knows the score with the student unions.
What a bore.
While the restraints on freedom of speech are a serious concern, there is also another interesting issue that appears in the student union president's statement. And that is the state of the ability to reason and apply logic among today's university students and the left in general (actually the lack of logic and reasoning ability).
Just how does offering an option to abortion prohibit or even interfere with a woman having a "choice" to have an abortion? In fact, just to have a choice you must have the option of not having an abortion. But the student union's and the president's response indicate that they believe that abortion is the only option, and hence there is no choice. And notice how they decide to end debate, 6% of the students vote for a pro-abortion statement and that cuts off debate for ever on campus, never mind that the pro-life group wasn't even really debating the issue they were just offering a "choice". Sound familiar to other things like global warming for example? Apparently, thinking is not a protected choice at todays universities.
One other question, why should an abortion be free? Actually, why should it be paid for by everyone but the individuals responsible for being in the situation in the first place?
Did Hans Kung actually read the post on this page before he posted. Hi post looks almost word for word based on the first post on this page.
I saw a show on the crack down on the media in China with the olympics last night. It really showed how we have to stand up for the rights we have. The career politicians in student politics often end up in adult politics so we need to watch out for people who are so willing to trample people's rights.
Yeah, someone's been cribbing notes...
So all material put out by clubs has to approved by the President at Queensland Uni. What a dictatorship! Not even communist China requires that. China tries to censor things but they don't require everything to be submitted to the chief censor - or is that the Minister for Propaganda. QUT down the road never required such censorship.
Noone wants more abortions to occur. Everyone wants fewer abortions to occur. If the Catholic Student's Society is really serious about reducing abortion, they would get active around issues of rape, poverty and accurate information about contraception.
But of course they don't because it is all just a media stunt.
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